Hell Yeah It's Personal

Man do I hate that quote. You usually hear it as someone is about to stab you in the back, steal your win or generally screw you over in some way. I know we're suppossed to seperate our private lives from our work lives so that we have some sense of "balance" in our lives. I'm calling bullshit on this once and for all. I just don't buy it although I used to think I was able to keep my private life seperate from work. After some reflection on this during a time when I am about to embark on something new, I've decided not to even sweat it anymore. From now on, hell yeah it's personal! That's what drives me. There's a certain amount of "passion" that you can only generate when you take things personally. Your flaws appear but it's smarter to focus on your strengths and find others to do what you can't.

It's a pretty simply decision for me. I like to win. More importantly, I hate losing. There's no shutting off when something goes wrong. I don't walk out of the office and stop thinking about things at work. Vice verse, if something has gone all kinds of wrong in your private life, you're not just going to forget about it as soon as you walk into your office. That's fine! It's what makes us human and this work-life-balance bullshit is annoying me at this point anyway. There's no work-life balance in the sense that all these suppossed "work gurus" preach. You can either manage your life or you can't. Balance? Who the hell has balance when you think about an entrepreneur starting his business while raising two kids and so forth. Have fun discussing balance with them!

I don't need balance when I think about starting a business. I want to be thinking of solutions to problems and figuring out how to make my customers happy all while making money. Ideas come at all times and in all forms. Likewise, if I need to take care of my family or do something "personal" during the day, then so be it. The working world has changed and you "balance" things while they're up in the air, i.e. while you're juggling priorities.

I've yet to meet an entrepreneur who wasn't intense. Further, here's what's even more interesting about the most successful ones I've met. They've always had their flaws. I haven't met one person who ultimately went on to "greatness" where I didn't think at least once "what a freak"! Some were completely asocial and had no clue how to deal with people. Some were tyrants to their employees. Drinking? Yup, you had total alcoholics in the mix as well as complete straight-liners. Others were so whacky that you wondered how they manage to get around in their day-to-day lives. I'm not even going to get into the fashion and grooming defects that you see. Nevertheless, one thing that defined them all was a sense of passion for what they did and the fact that it was ALWAYS personal. They were doing what they were doing because it was A choice.....their choice.

You can argue a million ways whether entrepreneurs are born or made. Yet when you have one in front of you, the last thing you see is work-life balance and seperation of work and private life. Some choose to be entrepreneurs while others have it thrust upon them. It doesn't matter. What unites them all is that it's always personal!